5 Bad Scrabble Habits You Can Learn From Words With Friends

Both Scrabble and Words With Friends are, well, word games, but the rules aren't interchangeable. See more pictures of toys and games.

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Sure, you had been playing Scrabble for years. The family took it out to combat an otherwise boring rainy afternoon, or friends used it to give game night a bit of an intellectual edge. The occasional game was happily played, by the rules.

And then came Zynga's Words with Friends, the extremely popular app that allows you to compete in -- let's say -- "Scrabble-like" games with your buddies or even strangers. Playing word games became less of an interest or hobby and more of an obsession. And suddenly, 20 million people are playing the game with each other, one word at a time [source: iTunes].

Now let's make one thing clear: Words with Friends defines itself as a "word game." That is, not a Scrabble game, which is trademarked by Hasbro. But while most of the game play seems nearly identical, there are some key elements to Words with Friends that vary. Those variations, should you make them a habit, can really hinder your Scrabble game.

We'll look at 5 of them that can make your Scrabble game go from bingo to zero.